Wind
by E.M. Megs
Summary: In the end, he was just the wind surrounding her, reminding her with his unforgettable presence that just a spark of decency was all that was needed to create a beautiful person. She closed her eyes briefly and let him surround her like he always did. "I love you, stupid Mud Boy. Gods help me, I do." One-shot - Blatant A/H - set about 200 years after the books - Holly-centric


_Wind_

_By E.M. Megs_

_One-shot_

Holly had made it a tradition to visit the hillside cemetery that housed the generations of Fowls after they passed on. Artemis had, once upon a time, been the one exception, choosing instead to be buried on the spot that would eventually sprout his gorgeous orange fairy roses. Of course, after he'd come back to life, his old grave became all but forgotten.

Except to her. She still visited that first resting spot of the great Artemis Fowl the Second right before visiting the second. The roses served as a reminder of what was buried underneath. The true body of her dear friend. The one that housed a hazel fairy eye as well as his human - yet suspiciously _in_human - blue. The one who's middle and fore fingers were switched on one hand. The one that had survived Atlantis Complex with surprising ease. The body of the boy who had kidnapped her so long ago.

She bit her lip and closed her eyes as she inhaled the scent of one of the roses. "Artemis," she breathed. She had been the only one that had thought they smelled like him. Yes, they smelled like regular roses, but there was just an underlying hint of mint and an unidentifiable spice that had always smelled just like him.

Of course, her elven nose was stronger than the mud men that attended to the roses.

She stood there, shielded from view even though the current line of Fowls knew all about the People and the adventures of their four and five times great grandfather. Of course, Artemis would have needed to tell his eventual wife and son about her since he couldn't very easily keep it a secret from them.

She remembered with a vague smile that the Council had not been particularly fond of the idea that the story would be passed on through generations of Fowls and was continued by the fact that she visited him - or his grave rather - every year.

She heaved a sigh and opened her eyes to pull herself away and up the hill where Artemis would be waiting for her. When she reached the ordinate tombstone that read boldly _Artemis Fowl the Second, September 1, 1989 - December 10, 2092_, she brushed her fingers lightly over his name.

Around it, though she didn't need to look, lay four other graves belonging to Angeline Fowl, Artemis Fowl the First, Myles Fowl, and Beckett Fowl. She spared a fond glance for the one directly next to him. _Diana Fowl_, the wife of her dear friend, the only human woman that Artemis had really ever taken an interest in. Then at Artemis Fowl the Third, rolling her eyes as she remembered how Arty had insisted on continuing the horrible name with his one and only child.

_"It will ensure that my line is one of hunters, Holly," _he'd stated with conviction. She rolled her eyes. He'd been 30 - well, _legally _33 - when the boy was born and she had, for some reason, agreed to be present at the birth to ensure that nothing went horribly wrong what with his karma. _"It will also serve to remind my future line of the adventures of their long gone ancestor, I'm sure, if my name is still around haunting them." _

Needless to say, Diana had not been particularly thrilled with the idea, but was woe to refuse her husband when he set his mind on something.

Then Holly turned her eyes back to him, vaguely hearing his teasing voice drawling, _"Must you always linger on my wife and son when we both know that you only keep coming to see me?" _Her breath caught and she had to close her eyes as the normal onslaught of tears overtook her. _"Captain, really. Crying is unbecoming of you." _

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "It's just…" She stopped abruptly because she realized that she was doing it again, like she always did. Speaking aloud to a voice that wasn't really there. It was in her head, _he _was wrapped uncontrollably in her mind just as he always had been. She closed her eyes and inhaled sharply to stifle the sob rising in her throat. "You always did this to me. Even nearly 200 years since meeting you - even _dead _- you still do this to me, Artemis. And you hardly even realized what you've done."

She could still remember sitting with him while he was on his death bed. His black hair had grayed and thinned only slightly. His blue eyes still held their intelligent gleam but the color itself had dulled in his old age. His gnarled hands had held hers tightly as she looked at him, not doubting for a single second that if he truly had wanted to that he could have found a way to again reincarnate his soul into a cloned body.

But that was just it. He hadn't wanted to. _"I've lived far longer than I thought I ever would, Holly," _he told her with a quiet rasp.

_"You could probably just keep going," _she had whispered.

He shook his head, smiling sadly. _"I could. But if there's one thing I've learned it's that you can't avoid death. At least not forever." _She had chuckled a little, trying to create a lightened atmosphere despite the incredible sadness that filled her. She leaned back against the headboard and ran a hand through his light, thinned hair, remembering when it was once thick and darker than night. His hands clasped her free one, a frown turning down the corners of his mouth. _"Holly, what's bothering you?" _

She shook her head and leaned it down against his. _"The thought of Artemis Fowl not being around is frightening," _she admitted softly. _"Especially as he has been a constant in my life for almost a century. Do you realize how astounding it is that you're dying just after your 100th birthday?" _

_"103rd, technically." _

She scoffed and he chuckled. She could feel the life draining out of him, his last bits silently leaving him as the minutes ticked on. Occasionally, she hated being a magical creature. _"And I suppose, technically, Artemis Fowl will still be around in the form of your son and grandson, right? I still can't believe your son named his Artemis Fowl the Fourth. It's ridiculous what you've started." _

_"Blame my father, not me. He's the one that named me Artemis after himself."_

_"You could have chosen to support Diana's desire to name him Apollo or Alexander. Hell, even Hyperion might have worked." _

_"But it wouldn't have fit him_." She sighed and conceded him that point.

Artemis turned his dulled blue eyes to her, taking in every detail of Holly's face like he needed to keep it in his mind forever _now_. She raised an eyebrow at his silent observing to which he replied, _"You're still beautiful as ever, Holly Short." _

She felt something crack within her. Here lay her best friend, dying, and she knew that she would have to live possibly another 1500 years without him. _"Don't say that," _she whispered, _"Please don't make it hurt any worse than it already does, Artemis." _

He merely gazed at her, sincerity leaking out of every one of his features. Then he sighed and murmured, _"I suppose you can feel it, can't you? You can actually physically __**feel **__me dying." _She winced at his incredibly true statement to which he nodded wisely and squeezed her hand.

_"You know… I meant what I said when we were 93 years in the past in that terrible gorilla exhibit trying to catch that damn lemur." _

_"You mean when you kissed me?" _He smirked at her when she averted her gaze in embarrassment.

_"Am I never going to live that down?" _

_"Not on this side of the century." _She snorted. The century turned in 8 years, what a comedic. Then his gaze softened and she found her eyes wandering back to his, just looking at him sadly and feeling his life slip right through her fingers.

_"I meant it," _she whispered as if afraid that someone would overhear even though Artemis III, IV, and V were out making final preparations for Artemis II, though Artemis V was merely 12. _"Artemis, I can't do without you. I don't… I can't imagine what life's going to be like when you're…" _She couldn't say it, it hurt too much.

_"When I'm six feet under?" _he completed with obvious amusement.

_"It's not funny!" _she lamented angrily. He sighed and with creaking joints lifted an arm to wrap around her. _"Artemis, I could live for another 1500 years. And that's not fair somehow. How can you escape so easily, live for such a short amount of time and just leave me to go on without you for that long? You can't just-" _

He'd kissed her and she swallowed the rest of her words. She stared at him with unfathomable emotion when he pulled away, tears forming in her eyes. She tried to pick up her thought train but it had shattered to pieces on the floor the moment that his lips had touched hers. _"You can't just- D'arvit, Artemis. I love you." _

He nodded like he had known all along and _damn him _he probably had. _"There's a reason that I'm the human, Holly." _

_"What? So you can haunt me for all my life with your damn line of __**Artemises**__?" _

He shook his head and he actually seemed to have tears of his own forming. _"Holly… That was never meant to hurt you. I promise, it never was." _He heaved what must have been his 10th sigh in the last hour and murmured, _"It's because I cannot do without you either and if the positions were switched, if __**I **__were the elf and you the human…" _he trailed off and she just stared at him until he picked up his thought and finished it. "_I'm not nearly as strong as you, Holly. I could not have managed watching you die and knowing that I had to live without you for a millennia or more." _

_"And what makes you think I can_?" she whispered, the tears now falling half-formed down her cheeks.

_"Because_," he mumbled, pressing his forehead to hers and feeling her tears hot on his face. _"You have an incredible capacity to love, Holly. One that I never had. You will be able to move on, eventually love someone else. I tapped out of my supply long ago with one person." _

_"You loved Diana," _she interjected.

He nodded. _"I did and when she died I mourned her. But that was not nearly on the same level that I love you, Holly Short. I captured you when I was 12 completely unaware that you would keep my heart as retribution." _

She closed her eyes against the ache in her chest and the awful magical timer in her head that told her that he only had two hours left at most. Then she gently brought her fist down on his chest. He coughed a bit in response, scowling in irritation. She almost smiled then remembered that she was supposed to be upset with him. _"D'arvit, Artemis. Why do you have to get all mushy __**now**__? Why couldn't you have said something about this years ago?" _

He smiled that knowing vampiric smile of his that she had come to adore. _"Because that would have made it all but impossible for you and I couldn't do that to you. You needed me only as a friend in order to move on once I was gone, since I knew that were we anything else, you would need and want me to stay all the more." _He paused and gazed at her with a tired kind of look. He was ready to go, she realized. He was ready to die properly like he hadn't been able to all those years ago because he still had things to do.

And now this was the last thing he had to do before he could move on.

_"And besides, my elf-kissing days were over 93 years ago." _

She let out a noise caught halfway between a laugh and a sob. His eyes held their normal twinkle as she settled down beside him, head on his old, frail shoulder. _"It's not fair," _she mumbled, _"It's not fair that you've saved the world - what? Seven times? - and you still aren't allowed everything you want." _

He chuckled. _"Oh. But I do." _She felt his mouth on the top of her head and squeezed her eyes shut, fingers curling tighter around his. _"I had my fair share of adventures. I had a wonderful wife and equally delightful son. I had the Fowl fortune, though that hardly means anything now. I had loyal friends… And I had one friend who I loved very dearly who I now have the privilege to hold in my arms where she always would have been had circumstances been different." _

_"Artemis, please," _she begged him softly, gripping his hand like holding it tight enough would keep him here with her forever.

_"Holly, I saved your trigger finger once upon a time and you gave me this coin that I still wear around my neck to remind me of the spark of decency I have. That spark was you. It was always you." _She could feel her shoulders shaking as she sobbed but didn't care as he continued, _"I rewrote time to save your life. I suffered an insufferable lover boy of my own making because I lied to you. I sacrificed my life to ensure that you would be spared. Believe me when I say that I love you with every fiber of my being. And I'm truly sorry, but I have to go in a few hours' time." _

_"Two_," she breathed though it pained her.

He kept on as though she hadn't interrupted him, "_It has been a pleasure to know and love you, Holly Short and I could never regret anything that we've done together. Perhaps - no, I __**know **__- that in another time we would be together as more than just friends. I will be waiting for you in that time, Holly." _

_"You stupid Mud Boy," _she mumbled, crying into his chest. _"Why do you have to go and do this to me? You always do this to me." _She stopped long enough for her to choke on her own emotions and then added, _"Frond, I love you. I didn't think it was possible to become this attached to someone I only see twice a year, if that." _

_"Bonded by trauma," _he whispered, a slight smile on his lips and she could tell that he was slipping from her. Within minutes he would drift off to sleep and in a manner of hours, he would be dead. Waiting for her in that other time. She released his hand to wrap it around his terribly thin torso and nodded, burying her face in the fabric of his shirt, overwhelming herself with the scent of him. The pianist fingers of one hand wrapped around her arm while the other stroked her hair, luring him to sleep.

_"Arty," _she murmured.

_"Hmm?" _ He was already half asleep but she managed to hold back long enough to squeeze him tightly

_"I'm here. Forever and always. Okay?" _

_"As am I. I will be the wind in your hair and the ground that you walk on. I will be around and with you always, my friend, my love. So don't cry because I'm gone, smile because I lived." _She tilted her head up to look into his eyes one last time, nodding her head and holding back a fresh wave of tears. His thumb stroked her cheek just under her blue eye and his lips curled into a smile that both took her breath away and broke her heart. She gave him a single chaste kiss and settled back, forehead to forehead. _"Thank you," _he breathed.

_"For what?" _

_"For being here right now. For fixing me when I was broken. Thank you." _

Her lower lip trembled, hearing the sleepiness of his voice and the beat of his heart underneath her ear. _"You're welcome… Goodbye, Arty." _

_"See you soon, Holly," _he mumbled as he drifted off into the slumber that he wouldn't wake from. His final sleep. She had laid there, listening to his heart until it finally stopped and then letting out a shuddering breath and crying until his son, grandson, and great-grandson returned to the Manor and found her there, the mysterious fairy who had captured their elder Artemis's heart, clinging to him like life itself.

Holly's fingers gently traced his name carved in the stone as she stood there, feeling him around her just like he said he would be. "I love you, stupid Mud Boy,"she breathed, figuring somehow he'd hear her. "Gods help me, I do. The last 100 years have been awful."

_"But you'll be okay," _he seemed to whisper in her ear and she nodded.

"Yeah… I'll be okay."

"Holly!" She turned toward the voice of the 15-year-old Artemis Fowl the Eighth and shook her head in exasperation as she realized that blasted name had lasted through another 3 generations after his death and would probably keep going. Though, knowing him he'd probably planned it that way from the very beginning. Artemis the Seventh stood by his son, waving as well.

Her breath caught because they both looked so remarkably like Artemis the Second without actually being him. "I curse the fact that your kin are all so adamant about keeping that blasted name," she hissed behind her at his gravestone and only heard a response in the form of a teasing chuckle.

_"You love it." _

"Of course, I do," she muttered, "I can't very easily hate your great-great-whatever." She shook her head. In the end, he was just the wind surrounding her, reminding her with his unforgettable presence that just a spark of decency was all that was needed to create a beautiful person. She closed her eyes briefly and let him surround her like he always did.

_"I'll be waiting for you in that time, Holly." _

"I know you will," she said as at another prompting from Artemis VIII she ran down the hill to talk with her favorite family of Mud Men.

Because, of course, they were his descendants. And she loved them as much as she had loved him.

~o~

**A/N: Okay… This time you have permission to throw stuff at me because I'm bawling right now too. This also is not my first response to TLG but I could not help myself when this floated into my head even if I do have French homework that needs doing. Vaguely happier than the last one though, at least, though not completely so. This is one of the main reasons why, though I love Artemis and Holly as a couple, I realize that their relationship would not be plausible. Not because of the species thing or the age thing but because he **_**would die 1500 years before her**_**. Not to mention the entire fairy secrecy thing. He wouldn't be able to live underground with her and she wouldn't be able to live above ground with him so really, they wouldn't see each other all that often. **

**That wasn't meant to crush your hopes and dreams or anything. Just trying to reason out why this is written the way it is. **

**Props if you get the Diana/Artemis thing. I won't say anything more. Look it up. **


End file.
